101 Reykjavik

101 Reykjavík (2000) is Baltasar Kormákur's Icelandic tragicomedy you can watch online on iFILM. The title is the postcode of the capital's downtown, and the whole film carries its winter listlessness. Hlynur, an unemployed man pushing thirty, lives with his mother, sleeps till noon, and is in no hurry to grow up.

His drifting routine cracks open when his mother's friend moves in — Lola, a flamenco teacher from Spain. The mother leaves for a few days, and in that window Hlynur tangles his love life into a knot that can't be undone. Victoria Abril, familiar from Almodóvar's films, plays Lola; Hilmir Snær Guðnason carries Hlynur's Nordic gloom.

This was Kormákur's directing debut, adapted from Hallgrímur Helgason's novel, with a cold electronic score by Blur's Damon Albarn. Dark humour, northern melancholy, and a protagonist who is his own worst enemy — this one's for fans of European indie with no sugar coating. Stream 101 Reykjavík (2000) online on iFILM.